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Crowd Control Enthusiast
Tried out archeage in hopes it's 3 tree skill selection would make for some interesting builds, but it all comes down to tank-mages using a sleep, then nuking things for all their health in one attack. The Property system was also lackluster in every regard.
Tried Destiny as well, but it just came across as un-funny borderlands. You have SOME matchmaking, but the hard content, you need to add strangers to friends lists. There's minimal in-game communication, and after grinding the game out for 2 weeks, I feel like I'm done with it.
And thus I returned to Dark Souls 2... Not an MMO, but the community is very tightly knit, even if only 4 people can be in the same spot at any given time. Combat is completely twitch action, but I enjoy it. Another DLC launching for it in a couple days too, so I'm kinda excited to jump back in for that fresh exploration feeling.
Stalkers don't die: They simply... Disappear.
The Nightmare brings word from CO.. he has found Brand X. Also, Conquer is slowly being crushed from within and soon, CALIGA shall fall to the power of Nightmare!
[B]Revenge is motivation enough. At least it's honest...[/B]
Roleplayer; Esteemed Villain
[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/5.jpg[/img]
If he doesn't get water ballooned into submission by [font=lucida bright]AIko[/font] first. ^_^
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
.
Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
I see The Nightmare often ingame often and congratualte The Nightmare on soloing Mechanon on the Behemoth AT. One day I'll get around to playing the new content...been too busy levelling new heroes. :)
I am new to this forum, but I've been lurking in the background for awhile. I thought this would be a good place for my first post.
I am currently playing ESO and enjoying it. I've played most every MMO since early EQ. Each had their merits and each had their drawbacks. Some were awesome, some were meh. I used to hop around, trying to stay in the same game as my friends. Now I'm starting to put my foot down and standing more firm for my own desires.
I must say that I sorely miss CoX and I am SO looking forward to playing something heroic again.
[center][img]http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae196/Nukluk/OverSightCOTSignature01-Smaller1_zpsfc7be0b0.png[/img][/center]
Thank you, mortal. Your morale support shall greatly bolster the Cult of Nightmare.
[B]Revenge is motivation enough. At least it's honest...[/B]
Roleplayer; Esteemed Villain
[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/5.jpg[/img]
I've played several, but stopped playing MMO's for the most part. Those include Marvel Online, Champions Online, Aion, Guild Wars 2. I ever tried Warcraft for a total of about 4-5 hours before I uninstalled it. So far the only game I can play for long periods of time is Diablo 3. It's nothing like CoX, and until that game returns or this one gets published, I probably won't play MMO's for a long time.
I was never much in MMOs. I grew up with consoles and cartridges. I feel a slight comfort when I have the ability to simply fire up a machine and plug in the cartridge or slot the disc and play. To be honest, what happened to CoX was the foremost thing on my mind the moment I was introduced to MMOs. Someone pulling the plug.
What about my characters and all their stories of pain, growth, failure, triumph? What about all those NPCs that were such a familiar sight that I felt they actually enjoyed when I dropped by? Whether they admitted to it or not...especially that redheaded damsel.
Being primarily a solo player. I was hesitant to try out WoW, despite the coaxing of my then girlfriend. After spending a few nights of us being apart in the same room (she was raiding) I decided to give it a go. Aside from the few times she tutored and held my hand, I found myself once again, soloing.
Something was different though. I once heard an expression, "The best thing about online gaming is the people. The worst thing about online gaming is the people." I could not agree more. I had access to all my head-canon as before, but hey... look at that guy! That's another player! I like that armour. I wonder where he- oh... he's coming towards me. chatwindowchatwindow... click and... Yes! Here!
Player: "hey"
Myself: "Hello there."
Player: "giv me golds pls"
There was a slight blinking moment at this point. I didn't expect to see communication similar to that my younger female cousin sends me via phone texts.
Myself: "Sorry, I've just started. I have very little myself."
Player: "hiw muc u got"
A disappointment for first encounters. It was later I found this to be the norm and not the exception. But here was a populated world! A world that was vibrant and alive with other players, continuing story, and it just kept getting bigger. I was in awe. I hadn't felt this since I had beaten Diablo in Diablo II and had vivid images of my male (Yes Male dammit!) Assassin grimly trudging through thigh-high snow drifts, resolutely making his way to Mount Arreat. His eyes never wavering far from the distant peaks, as if his gaze alone would send the message of impending doom to his prey. "Baal, you too shall fall. The Viz-Jaq'taar have commanded it."
...sorry got lost for a moment. Where was I? Oh yes. Fell out of WoW when she and I broke up. If you see her in game, don't mention me. I heard she's a little crazy now. Hair gone all white and everything. ...no wait. That was the other girl I was... never mind. Forget I said anything... about girls.
Tried SWTOR, still playing it. Solo. It's more to pass the time though. Tried DCUO, it was fun. Now here. Here is where I can understand a little of what you CoXers speak of.
My league. I still feel a certain amount of pride just thinking about Suit Up. Those were great people. Helpful, instructive, friendly and damn good players. I remember telling them once in ventrilo that if it wasn't for the league, I would have left the game long ago. Heck, I'd still be playing if my laptop didn't unceremoniously shut down after 5-10mins of playing.
Now, I've never played CoX. But if my experience with my league Suit Up, is the norm in CoX... Hell, I missed out. However, it does give me much to look forward to in CoT.
Looking back up, that's rather a verbose first post.
Ahem.
"Hi. I'm new here."
And an eloquent and entertaining one it was!
Having played CoX for 7 years and tried about a dozen other MMOs, I have to say that CoX did seem to be the exception to the "give me gold" scene. I'm not claiming that the cooperative team feeling was completely absent from other games, but I never found it there in the frequency or quality that I did in CoX. So if CoT can capture whatever it was that encouraged such a supportive community, I think we'll both feel that "Suit Up" feeling again one day.
So, welcome!
Spurn all ye kindle.
I'm currently playing Wildstar myself, Exiles all the way :) I'm currently running a guild and a radio station over there so I"m a very busy boy while I wait for CoT
It's witty, profound, and life-changing in 100 characters or less! It's... the Signature Line!
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[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/axiomfunk/ibdrsig.jpg[/IMG]
My little circle has been playing FFXIV lately. We'll probably go back to Wildstar with the next content release. We haven't really been able to stick to a single game since CoH closed, so we're really looking forward to CoT!
None. Have tried a few MMO's; GW2, Rift, CO, STO but none of them kept me interested for long.
CoH had something, the community maybe. Whatever it was, it's been a bit lacking on every other MMO I've tried.
At the moment I'm just pottering about in Diablo 3 hoping for an MMO that suits me to arrive.
I bounced around a few MMOs since CoX went down but none really kept me entertained for long. I just never got the same hook from any other game.
Champions - missions got boring. The writing was uninteresting and every mission seemed like kill X number of Y
DC - Actually maxed out one alt but I lost interest in post game and never felt the urge to level another
Wildstar - Beta was fun so I might give it another shot
Wow - Got sick of competing for mission objectives with so many people
At this point I've basically given up n MMOs till Titans comes out
This is going to surprise even me.. but after having SO much fun in Wildstar I've found it too much of a hassle to switch over to my PC partition. I am buying a new PC Tablet for my PC gaming.. maybe i'll go back to Wildstar then. BUT IN THE MEANTIME I've been having the most fun I've ever had in Mac gaming with Marvel Heroes. It's not a MMO. It's not what I want.. but I'll be damned if it's not fun and easy to log into on my mac.
SO happy that CoT will be released on Mac (hopefully at launch). Unreal Engine looks great and I can't wait to see it in a REAL MMO
Crowd Control Enthusiast
I gave up on booting into Windows too and just bought a windows machine for playing games. Still playing DDO, quit WoW again months ago. Picked up a PS3 game Hyperdemension Neptunia MK2 last week. Was pleasantly surprised to see a character from the Alchemist of Arland continuity there. I loved the cutscene I just saw when IF threatened to beat a monster so flat the player would think it was a 2D monster. Then Compa cried out in dismay at how the 4th wall was being broken. Also picked up Castle Clash for my phone now that I've basically maxed everyone on Dungeon Keeper (tablet) for free. Beat Tales of Grace F, Tales of Xillia (both paths), The 3 Alchemist of Arland games and Alchemist of Dusk. A friend of mine wants me to get into the newest Final Fantasy MMO but I can't see getting into any other MMOs for only a year and a half tops at this point. Most established MMOs take 2 years minimum to see everything you really want to see if they are any good.
The line between knowing and understanding is often blurred.
Cute Kitsune the Anti Villain of Phoenix Rising.
I have more fervor then empathy, I still like you.~Me to a friend
It applies here too, I'm passionate not hostile.
I know it's not an MMO, but Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will hopefully tide me over for a while. The hype train is off the rails! Is anyone else here getting in on the newest upcoming Super Smash Bros. release?
I'm trying to choose between The Elder Scrolls Online, and Final Fantasy 14. Whatever I choose I hope there a few people on here that can give me pointers and maybe even team with.
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Personal rules of good roleplay
1.) Nothing goes as planned.
2.) If it goes as planned it's not good RP
I stopped playing MMOs after I was forced to quit Wildstar to focus on issues that were popping up IRL. I tried Archeage briefly but after playing Wildstar so much the more conventional MMO style of combat was seriously boring me. Before Wildstar and Archeage I played Guild Wars 2, CO, DCUO, WoW, Blade and Soul, Destiny, many F2P MMOs, and of course CoX.
Nowadays I play Team Fortress 2 mods or regular Team Fortress 2. I am really good at scout and pyro so....
Formerly known as Bleddyn
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WCqnt88Umk]Do you want to be a hero?[/url]
[url=http://cityoftitans.com/forum/nyktoss-character-cove] My characters [/url]
FFXIV
whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster and when you look into the abyss, the abyss also look into you, -Friedrich
[img]http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm106/hinata1032/Kitsune.jpg[/img]
I did customer service support for ESO starting at launch through september.
Um ... yeah ... I honestly can't recommend ESO to anyone anymore. I can recommend it, but I wouldn't be honest while doing it.
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
I've been playing a number of MMO's....but none have actually held me for very long.
CO- Cheap knockoff of City of Heroes. Makes me too nostalgic for the real itch scratcher, that and Craptic just ruins IP's. No longer play.
STO- played for a while. I'm a trekkie from the old days. Kirk, Spock, McCoy.....and totally hated what Craptic was doing to the lore. No longer play.
Neverwinter- played for a while after the open beta and didn't like the rehashed graphics and soundtrack. Felt like I was playing STO but with a sword instead of a spaceship. No longer play.
DCUO- actually was kinda fun to play...but everything else about the game struck me as bland. No longer play.
Marvel Heroes- Diablo with super heroes. Not my cup of tea. No longer play.
The Secret World- Perhaps the only thing to hold my attention for a while. Absolutely incredible storyline....right up to the point where nightmare difficulty content stopped me in my tracks. I had no say whether or not I wanted to fight things at that difficulty level.....it just was thrust into my face. So sad. No longer play.
Defiance- Had so much potential, but TRION just crapped all over roleplayers with that game. Unpopular changes caused many of the people I originally met and played with there to leave...and also drove me away. No longer play.
Rift- Just couldn't get into it. Got to level 25 or so and just stopped. No RP, everyone was cloistered and clique-ish. No longer play.
Guild Wars 2- Wouldn't have even tried it had it not been gifted to me. NCSoft won't ever get another penny from me for anything else other than the restart of City of Heroes. Played a norn warrior to level 25 and the lack of any RP (even though I chose an RP server to play on) made me quit playing. No longer play.
The Elder Scrolls Online- I actually like this game and wish people weren't so hellbent on not RP'ing outside of their clique's. I'm not big on joining guilds just to RP so....I've been playing it for the last six months and only just now let my sub slip. Would start playing again if I had some promise of RP.
On the topic of suggesting something to the devs of this game about what I learned from all those others it would be this:
Forced solo instancing for storylines is a bad thing. Don't ever make someone do a mission alone. It should be a choice, like it was in CoH. Difficulty level should also be chosen by the player, as it was in CoH.
Lord of the Rings: Online... Why? To keep my hand in the music side of the game. Practicing and playing created songs on the many instruments my Bard uses. But like many others, it is a "Bide my time" thing, until CoT comes out.
FWIW ~ I'll be buying a subscription to CoT, from the start.
Capt Odee, saving the city one click at a time.
[CENTER][URL=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm][IMG]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/CENTER]
I've had my shares of different MMO's granted I haven't played everything out there. Right now, the only one I'm playing is World of Warcraft and that's because a few of my friends are still playing so I've always went where my friends went. No matter the game, I do bounce over to Marvel Heroes at times but it get's boring and not knowing anyone else play it is another reason why I'm not really into it..
DCUO got boring rather quickly, but it's nice if I wanna get a feel for DC Comics I can jump right in and see everyone, and with the DLC's it's a nice change every now and then. I played the beta for ESO/Wildstar and enjoyed Wildstar loved the combat system and even ESO's was good. But, again nobody I know play's either one so I quit. I guess I haven't found the right group to fit in to play game's with. Right now, everyone I know is either in WoW or League. And with sub based's games I can't afford to play 2-3 of them at one point.
+1 based on similar experiences with CO, DCUO, and TSW
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Rift and SWTOR here. Wanted to make my Elec/Ice Blaster similar to the Assassin class in TOR. Also playing a heavily modified version of Dragon Age Origins. Doesn't seem to be an abundance of F2P Mmorpgs with a good class sustem apart from RIFT for me.
FFXIV
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMcQdRLgVpMwXi_3yTCN5iA/videos
SWTOR, because it's Star Wars. And it's always fun to play around with humming glow sticks. Like everyone else, biding my time until COT emerges
Lay your hands on me
While I'm bleeding dry
Break on through blue skies
And take it high
glow sticks like this? ;D
[img]http://i.imgur.com/WtjGukW.png[/img]
Probably something more like this ...
[img]http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff21/pixel_2_pixel/killer_instinct_2/orchid7.jpg[/img]
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
At least the weapons in the last two pics look like "weapons".
A few years ago there was an otherwise good TV show called [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Seeker]Legend of the Seeker[/url] (based off the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Truth]The Sword of Truth[/url] books) which unfortunately had these semi-silly magical/torture weapons called "agiels". Now to call these agiels "short batons" was doing them a service because there's really no way to describe them other than to call them what they were: to keep things g-rated think of a "marital aid" device that most people use a five letter word for starting with "d" and ending in "ildo".
I'm sorry but given the type of women (called Mord-Sith) who used these "weapons" in these stories it's incredibly difficult to not assume that the relative size/shape of the agiel was not some kind of very obvious "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" joke of Terry Goodkind. ;)
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Back when CoX was still around, I had a moment of doubt about the game, feeling like it was getting boring trying the same old same old. I went to a PAX con in Seattle where they were previewing Champions Online. They were saying the right things and the enthusiasm was contagious. I ended up buying a lifetime subscription, so I'm ever-gold there, no matter how long I stay away.
After playing on it for about 6 months or so, appreciating the things they brought to the table that CoX hadn't, I eventually realized that despite that, I liked CoX better, and re-subscribed and played for however many more months the game was still around (3? 6?). Like most of you, I made sure I was there till the very last minute.
Now I am back to playing CO, something to get me by for the time being. While it is in no way a real replacement for CoX, I try to appreciate it for what it does bring. It's easy for me to be gracious about its faults, though, because I play gold for no current cost, the money being spent years ago.
I love the variety of their zones. I love the fascinating options for character creation. I love being able to mix and match powers from any set. I love the massive variety of movement powers. It's not perfect, but for now, it'll do.
...I hear ya. been there off an on since beta. haven't logged there in a good bit. last time was to fiddle around with some concepts, I mainly use CoH still, but they (CO) have some costume options that CoH doesn't.
[img]http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/whiteperegrine/84183/69278/69278_original.gif[/img]
Just before CO went live, I bought the Lifetime Sub. It was like 350. Now, I had been in the beta and I really didn't hate the game at that time. Then day one nerf to EVERYTHING. I still say that was the biggest turn off for players to CO and why it didn't become bigger.
Still played it off and on while I stayed with CoH. I liked CoH better, all CO had for me really was Chains and Pistols. Even when I paid the 350, knowing I may not always play the game, I knew it meant as long as CO was running, I'd have a game I was basically subbed too :p The investment paid off, because after 2 years, I'm still playing it :p
I recently started playing Champions Online. I have maybe thirty hours total into the game. I'm often shocked at how different it is. The entire ambiance of the game is dramatically different than CoX. The design of the powersets, character progression, the need for gear, the game mechanics are dramatically different. So far, I definitely prefer the CoX mechanics.
In CO, my characters is clearly a "toon". I think this might be the most annoying aspect of the game. At least in CoX I could pretend the characters inhabited an alternate reality (yeah, I know, "pretend", "imagination", you're supposed to abandon all that stuff when you become an adult). In CO everything feels like a comic book. Someone forgot to tell the designers that American comic book artists have always striven to be as realistic as the medium allows.
CO feels like poorly composed satire or a comedy routine that falls flat rather than a fully realized virtual world.
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My author page at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2MPvkRX
My novelty shirts: https://amzn.to/31Sld32
The easiest way I can compare my experience with CO versus CoH is that the style of CO was like the campy Adam West Batman of the 1960s versus CoH feeling a bit more like the recent Christian Bale Batman movies.
Now don't get me wrong: I don't think Adam West's Batman was completely worthless nor do I think Bale's Bats was absolutely perfect. I'm just saying CO comes off just a bit too "jokey" and/or "goofy" whereas I think CoH was at least trying to be semi-serious or at least wasn't making fun of itself. CO felt like a cheap traveling carnival ride whereas CoH felt more polished like a ride at Disney World.
Sometimes I'm actually in the mood for some Adam West styled silliness; we even bought the DVD box set of the old Batman show when it finally went on sale a few months ago. But when I want to play a superhero-based MMO I simply prefer a game that plays it straight instead of seeming like it's trying too hard to be a caricature of its own setting.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
CoH was 70's-80's comics. CO is saturday morning cartoons. If you haven't already Grey, I suggest you take off the comic outline via the options settings. Also, it's taken me awhile to get the sliders to where I like them on my main in CO, so you may be messing with those for quite a while.
Does Elite Dangerous count as an MMO?
I tried RIFT, and some others. Just couldn't get into it.
I was playing SWTOR off and on, just because of the ambience. Hard not to enjoy a game with Star Warsy music blaring out while you force choke a fool, even if most of the mechanics are pretty bleh. Haven't logged in for a while though.
I would have played Secret World, but my laptop can't run it, so I'll definitely need an upgrade by the time Titans comes out. :) Unreal 4 may be lower-end friendly, but probably not down to where I am at this point. Just holding off til I know specs and we're closer to beta. Nothing wrong with getting yourself a present in order to play a beta, right?
So right now I'm not playing anything. Every game I look at annoys me because it has mechanisms I'm growing less tolerant of as time goes by. I get tired of killing one enemy at a time for 30 levels, at which point I can handle TWO enemies at a time. It's ridiculous.
I miss jumping into mobs of 15 and laying about like a maniac. I'm hoping that combat in City of Titans has more movement to it rather than just standing and hitting buttons, but otherwise? The ease of grouping, the BENEFITS of grouping (IE, more mobs and more difficult ones in instances make for faster leveling and more fun gameplay), the fact that I can feel powerful instead of just able to kill one same-level wolf at level one and one same-level wolf at level 25 is what I'm looking for.
And I can't find a game that does it (that will play on my system). So I'm waiting for City if Titans to come out in the hopes that it undoes some of the staleness in the genre for me. I don't need revolutional, but I'm very happy to see that the devs are looking around at many different games and picking and choosing the best parts to tinker with.
Gives me hope. ;-)
Flim-flam artist, occasional author and reknowned altoholic.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Masons-Order-Gordon-Gross-ebook/dp/B009CHBVQ4/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8][img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517tN7NOGQL._AA160_.jpg[/img][/url]
At first I went to DCUO, it did not feel the same and I am huge on character customization so I was very disappointed with that part, the combat is okay but it's just not the same as CoH! Moved to CO after that. I did like the character customization but I didn't like the teaming, it's not a very good structure for a community(unless you already know people who play it), It felt to me like everyone was just solo'ing doing their own thing and it just left me wishing I could play CoH ='(. So I patiently await the day CoT is ready... =3
Right now I've moved a bit away from that style of game, currently playing Path of Exile and maybe play some GTA V when it comes out for PC :D
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
Guns of Icarus Online is turning into an all-time favorite of mine.
No grinding, no leveling. Everyone is on even footing. Teamwork and communication is king - a coordinated crew will win over a skilled-but-disorganized crew. A dev team that actively gets involved with the playerbase. A refreshingly non-toxic player base!
Turns out that the rodents who infest some online games are incapable of things like "Cooperation", "Communication", and "Teamwork". Those people tend to fall from the sky as their ship gets torn apart by cannon fire.
Well - it is truly MASSIVE (400 billion places to go and see), multiplayer, and online - so yes ;^p
As for the RPG part normally attached to the end - it's heading in that direction now with the ability to form groups/ wings, and plans to add features like in-game avatars, guilds/fleets and such.
GLOW STICKS?
You know where I have to go with this:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
[img]http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs25/i/2008/083/f/2/You_found_the_Swordchucks__Yo__by_chibiturtleboi.jpg[/img]
[center][img=44x100]https://i.imgur.com/sMUQ928.gif[/img]
[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
When will a beta test environment be launched?
Public Beta for the Avatar Builder?
We don't know ATM. But a guestimate could make it late November or early December of this year.
Hmmm, Saber-chucks, swings it around and tries to catch it under arm, looks over and sees arm on ground twitching... guess I should have thought this weapon through more....
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
Actually Paladin uses nunchaku with generators built into them.
They build an electrical charge as he spins them
making them glow bright yellow and stun people.
to avoid shocking himself, he wears an insulated costume.
if anyone takes his nunchucks and tries to use them they will shock themselves.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
....I am not playing anything at the moment, kinda gettin bored. I need to find a new temporary home to waste away a few hours of downtime during the week. :/
[img]http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/whiteperegrine/84183/69278/69278_original.gif[/img]
I help mod a set of forums for a voice pack community. I have already seen how passionate people can get...
And this is in the *EARLY* days for us.
On the plus side: this passion helped us able to afford Normon Lovett and Tom Baker to voice our packs.
For a dedicated NPC, this can be expensive. For a *generic* NPC though, where the lines can be spread across a whole range of mobs... The cost looks a lot better.
*Rolls dice for David Hewlett and Scott Bakula to be signed up soon for us*
*Reacts to mention of Tom Baker (!), then starts looking for information on the game*
Oooh, looks interesting. Need to check my finances to see if I can afford forty pounds...
*goes off to find out what the exchange rate is*
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
.
Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
Hold your horses on that one.
It's a similar story for me, although I didn't buy the lifetime when CO went live. I played it for a month or so, then went back to CoH. However, when CoX was shut down I played (for a month or three) just to get my superhero fix. Then, when talk of CoT started up, I worked out how much it would cost to sub to CO until CoT came out and buying a lifetime subscription worked out to be a little cheaper.
Nowadays I still log into CO, although it's more to RP with friends or play around in the tailor than to play the game itself.
That isn't all that strange really. I know people who still pay subscription fee's for other MMO's to do the same thing.
For them, actually doing game content is optional.
I started a new character in Star Trek Online a couple of days ago just to see what they have done with the game over the last few years (LOTS of changes since I last played - better tutorial, Earth Spacedock looks really good, the huge quadrant maps are much better.) However, for some reason, while the space half of the game, as well as some ground missions, run smooth as butter, many other ground missions (notably ones with a lot of vegetation) have HORRIBLE lag - I'm talking 1-2 fps. Nearly half the game is pretty much unplayable. I'm not the only one experiencing this - seems to have something to do with the new Season they just released according to the forums? In any case - I'm hoping they find and fix the problem soon - I'd like to get back to seeing what's new with the game.
Edit: Well all I had to do is turn off "high detail objects" and it works fine now - back to blasting Klingons!
As mentioned above, I play WoW. Today I found a [url=http://www.wowhead.com/item=112369/hami-down-cloak&bonus=0]Hami-Down Cloak[/url] and thought of you guys. ^_^
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
Just finished GTA 5 yesterday, holy moly that was a great game!! I am just starting to get into the online heists and whatnot. Super fun!
I am looking forward to No Man's Sky coming out on PC!
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
I was thinking maybe they rooted through our trash and found some of our old trees to use.
Jokes on them!
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
I'm playing LoL and Elder Scrolls Online at the moment.
Like a lot of the others here, I bounced around a lot of MMOs. Guildwars 2 kept me the longest, but I couldn't bring myself to care about my character or the story, and I couldn't get excited about reaching the higher levels just to do more raids (or whatever their endgame is). I also couldn't get into it from the gameplay perspective. All of my characters felt very weak, like I'm just chipping away at the enemies until they fall down. While they are demolishing me. And after I've used my two dodges, I'm pretty squishy. My warrior was an exception, but he was also very boring.
I played CO a while back, but it didn't jive for many of the reasons everyone has already said.
I'm playing Neverwinter right now with my girlfriend. It's okay, but just okay. I feel like there's no variety in the classes (at least until you hit 30? There's three branches per class at 30, but I'm not quite there yet). And every time I level up, I have to search for something to put my skill point into. It's a very strange and unfulfilling experience. I'd much rather get a skill point every other level and be excited about the possibilities for it, you know?
I'm also playing Destiny, but I hardly consider it an MMO since I only play solo or with 1-2 friends, and never really interact with other players.
Outside of MMOs, I've been playing all kinds of RPGs and a lot of Pokemon. I just bought the Might and Magic Humble Bundle, so I'm gonna give those a run tonight.
haven't been playing any MMO's as of late. been mainly fiddling around with various single player games. I have been toying around with starting over in CO though.
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I've seen a few mentions of TERA in this thread. I just signed up, and I'm downloading it now. It looks pretty awesome.
Does anyone know of any guilds where CoX/CoT folks gather?
Tera is very pretty. The underlying mechanics are a huge grindfest. Tier 14 stuff was a PITA to get and MES's are ridiculously unreliable.
I had a lot of fun seeing all the pretty going through the levels, except around the 50s when I got stuck in the desert and stuff wasn't making itself available fast enough to get killed. The endgame got old fast.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
I'm hoping that the fast-paced high-action combat will be engaging enough to hold my interest. I've mostly been keeping myself busy with Team Fortress 2 and Super Smash Bros. 4, so as long as I enjoy the combat, I think it'll keep me going for a while. Learning the lore will hopefully be fun, too. And I hate to admit it, but sometimes a little mind-numbing grind is exactly what I need to unwind.
Seems like it might be a good fit for me. I guess I'll find out soon!
If you're getting into TERA, one of the biggest favors you can do for yourself is to NOT RUSH. Savor the sights. Take a look around. Enjoy the view. Admire the ambiance. Soak in the FEELING of what it's like to be in the world. Heck, even just looking up at the sky to see where all the light is coming from can be awe inspiring ...
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
The overall, global lore in Tera is, frankly, forgettable. The local, per-zone lore is okay.
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
It's main story line goes from boring, to good, to okay.
/Second.
I find most MMO's really boring currently. The sword and sorcery games like WoW and ESO, have not sparked any interest in me. And games like Star Trek Online was okay but got to be a lesson in frustration and get loaded down with lock boxes with no keys, so I quit that. And EVE online, made me feel like a mouse in house full of hungry cats.
And so now I wait.
Evolution is key. And mutants are key.
If you are worried about the mouse in a room full cats feeling, then you can try Elite Dangerous and request to join the Mobius private group. That is a PvE group and with the exception of Conflict Zones, PvP play is frowned upon (as in, if you do engage another player they can get you reported and kicked from the group).
Strangely enough though, even after several months, and several thousand players in that group, I haven't really heard of any abuses of the system.
And this is a game where GoonSwarm are involved. Granted, I believe that they tend to play more "open" than "private group" but if you REALLY want to, you can always play in Solo mode, where you will not see another player in the game world.
Friends are still able to talk to you though.
My main MMO is The Secret World - some excellent writing/story and probably the best game forums (for a live game) since CoX. Occasionally dive into CO, Defiance, STO, AoC, Neverwinter and a few others I can't recall at the mo.
Must say that no post-CoX MMO has handled teaming and difficulty as well as CoX did. Scaling difficulty to level and team size makes so much sense but no-one seems to do it.
BTW does anyone else think 'Circle of Thorns' whenever they see this game abbreviated as CoT?
By my mohawk shall ye know me
I did for a while. Now the opposite is true.
If I see CoT in reference to the Circle of Thorns I get momentarily confused.
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
still none. as such I have picked up a domain and hosting provider to "try" and build a website. given I lack any kind of website building skills, it is..... a chore....to say the least. heh
[img]http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/whiteperegrine/84183/69278/69278_original.gif[/img]
So I have been playing TERA. Redlynne and Lin Chiao Feng, you were both spot on. The combat is fun, but the questing and leveling experience is a terrible grind. It is pretty, and I've been having a lot of fun exploring, especially because their maps are full of holes, lol. Can't wait to do the same in City of Titans. ;)
There's not really anything else I'm waiting for except Splatoon and Star Citizen (after I upgrade my PC). Hopefully it'll be enough to tide me over.
But you know what game was just plain [i]fun[/i]? Lego Star Wars. I wish there was an MMO like that. No grinding, no gearing up, no time sinks---just some awesome nonstop arcade-style third-person beat-em-up multiplayer action where the only thing you lose when you die is a high score. Explore big maps, solve coordinated puzzles, drive vehicles, and find collectibles. All of the story, all of the action, all of the fun, via LAN or across the globe.
Lego Marvel Avengers is fun as well...
Although once you start unlocking a lot of the deadpool bricks, increasing your stud earning rate to x3280 makes it hillarious.
Even though there is NOTHING that you can spend that amount on... trust me, I have tried.
You can unlock the same multipliers in Lego Star Wars. At x3280, if I remember right, a single 5-minute run of Battle Over Coruscant nets you somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion studs (or some ridiculous amount). There's nothing you can't buy at that point.
But even that was part of its simplicity. Studs (money) wasn't some economic measure of your time invested; it was just a big number that made you feel awesome after a good run and acted as a bonus for unlocking cool extras. The game was about actually [i]playing the game[/i] and having more fun than should be allowed by law. Teaming up with my little brother was some of the most fun we ever had playing video games together.
Part of me likes the MMORPG experience of bringing my characters up in the world, but another part of me likes more straightforward action without all of the complexities of "progression". I found City of Heroes to be a good mix of the two. There was deep character progression, but playing in random pick up groups was usually wild, action-packed fun where [i]how you played[/i] was more important than [i]how you geared[/i]. In my experience, most players didn't care about your powers or enhancements as long as you were a good teammate.
TERA is, at its heart, [b]Yet Another Korean GRINDFEST[/b]. The writing is subpar and the motivations for what you're doing get *mighty* repetitive (see: grindfest) ... but despite all of that, the combat itself is actually really engaging. When you're fighting, you're *IN* the action! It gets your blood pumping and it's a highly immersive experience!
But yeah, the level design is pretty sloppy (there are holes all over the place) that they've never bothered to seal up in the maps. My favorite one was getting BEHIND the capital city of Valk and seeing just how much of a shortcut the environment Devs took in making the place look kinda sorta right from outside the walls with the gigantic turning gear in the center of the city.
For all that though, the artistic value of the game is really darn high ("pretty" is a totally inadequate description) ... but that just proves that Eye Candy alone isn't enough to hold a Player's interest over the long haul. Eye Candy gets your game noticed and draws attention ... but ultimately can't HOLD that attention indefinitely.
There are, in fact, a LOT of lessons to be learned and brilliant ideas executed in TERA though, so it's not a "bad" game per se ... although even among dedicated Players it is jokingly known as being [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrsCbvga3s0]TERAble[/url], as opposed to just being called TERA. The primary complaint against the game is that the creative studio behind it is Korean and the audience it was intended for is decidedly Korean, so a whole heck of a lot of the game is oriented around the Korean sensibility of Futile Grindfest (because if it wasn't the insane Korean Players would beat the game in a day or two and then badmouth the game to everyone). So it IS WHAT IT IS ... but for all that, I consider it an experience that was worth having, even if it wasn't one that would hold my interest indefinitely.
Playing TERA is something of an eye opening experience just in terms of what an MMORPG [b]can do and be[/b] in terms of sheer gameplay. In that respect, it is in many ways a sort of sword & sorcery "shorter ranged" version of what it was like to play Tabula Rasa, which pioneered many of the same conventions that TERA uses today in its user interface and intuitive gameplay format ... hence why you'll see people like me who have played both games wax rhapsodic about the Tabula Rasa experience and my desire to see it recreated in a modern game format.
Where TERA "falls down" isn't so much its combat system or its monster design, but more in the realm of its in-game economy, the crafting system (which is designed to economically RUIN anyone investing in it as an unghodly IGC sink), its questing systems and the numbing repetition of its writing and the somewhat slipshod design of the environmental maps (which basically never get patched). The lack of any kind of "flashback" system to replay earlier content doesn't help either, making "outleveling" a potential problem in multiple ways.
That said, a lot of the characterizations of the NPCs can be brilliantly done ("watch out for tricky Popori!") with each Player faction being quite well done and relatively distinct from each other. And, of course, the Elin [b]ARE[/b] the Master Race of TERA!
[youtube]yBOwCRH1xBw[/youtube]
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
They have a flashback system in place now for Dungeons, but you have to be level 60 if I'm not mistaken.
TERA's new Gunner class is LOTS OF FUN. It is limited to Female Castanics & Elves though. So this has been a problem for some players (much like how Reaper was limited to Elin).
They have said there's a new Male only class coming though.
Long time lurker.
When CoX shut down, I almost immediately went to Champions Online. It was a good "filler" but the content got old really, really fast and all I did to get to the level cap was Alerts. Alerts alerts alerts alerts alerts. Some Multifaria storyline here and there.
I quit playing it around.... July 2013 and decided to try FFXIV: A Realm Reborn (ARR) on a whim because rumor had it that the graphics were now beautiful and the playability and play-style have been revamped. I loved it. Loved loved loved loved it.
Until the game turned into, for me, a huge grind fest.
The game got way too grindy, it is [b]very alt-unfriendly[/b], and quite a bit of dungeons are locked behind the "Main Story Quest". Which you are required to do to unlock end-game content. And content to the new expansion coming up next month. Yes, you are required to complete the ARR storyquests (2.0-2.55) first before you can gain access to the Heavensward (3.0) content. (which includes new areas, new dungeons, new classes, etc.)
My future there is looking very grim right now.
I also tried DCUO (I return on occasion just to admire the DC universe) and The Secret World. Also, tried WoW for the first time a week ago. None of those were able to keep my attention for too long.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I honestly cannot wait for CoT to be released.... I am waiting patiently...
[size=10]Globals: Darkshot Avenger | Red Ice
CoH player from 9 Mar 2009 to 30 Nov 2012
• Nigredo Fist/Schwarzen Strike
• Cyclone Shield
• White Mender
• Silver Speed
• Centershock[/size]
[size=10]Server: Virtue
Discord: Leif#2990[/size]
FFXIV is very alt unfriendly. That said, I didn't find the story line quests that bad and a good way to get levels. It's very solo quest style mmo unless you're doing FATES or Dungeons.
I don't see anything wrong with a non alt friendly game though, as it's not CoH. Part of it's point is to stick to one character and personally, I find most MMOs are less about being alt friendly and more about being dedicated to one character.
dedicated to a single charater!?!? NOT....GONNA.....HAPPEN.
:p
[img]http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/whiteperegrine/84183/69278/69278_original.gif[/img]
Well, because one character can be *all* classes in Final Fantasy 14 (by design), it makes sense. The thing is, you DON'T have to lump everything on the single character, you can spread it out.
Hell, even in City of Heroes... unless you tracked across the board which content you were doing/had done previously (or used Oroborus) you could find yourself running "the same old same old" over and over again.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Different things for different people.
I'm a single character player. Wouldn't have it any other way. I don't have the skills to be schizophrenic in roleplay. I can barely keep track of all the details of ONE character so I'm not going to take the time to invent many
Crowd Control Enthusiast
I'm not really a "one character player" or a "million alt player". I'm sort of in-between those two extremes.
If I play a MMO long enough I might play my first "main" character pretty exclusively for several months. Then I'll switch to another main that I'll stick to most of the time for another few months. After I collect a few more characters like that I usually start alternating between them, but even then I'll likely only choose one to focus on per play session.
Basically I never end up having like 100+ alts that I'm constantly logging on and off every 5 minutes - instead I'll have maybe 5 or 6 nearly-maxed out mains that are each fully developed RP wise.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
[IMG=400x225]https://i.imgur.com/NHUthWM.jpeg[/IMG]
Better to RP one or two characters than more than that imo. When people start going beyond that, they don't give their character enough screen time. :p
My name is Greyhawk and I am an unrepentant altoholic.
I always have one character that I pour most of my time into. However, I enjoy experimentation way too much to just stick with one character. Over time, I will have at least one character using every combination of Primary/Secondary skills I can think up, with several dedicated to matching up combinations I enjoy with different Tertiary sets just to see how that changes things. And then there's the three-point theoretically limitless variation alignment scheme. I going to have to experiment with alienating and befriending different groups just to see how that changes things!
One character? Life is too short to be limited to just one character!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My author page at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2MPvkRX
My novelty shirts: https://amzn.to/31Sld32
RP wise, I kept my characters to a minimum, but I had lots of alt concepts that may have seen a bit of RP but were never as serious and mostly just to level up different powerset combos for whatever reason.
On FFXIV however, I stick to just one character :p
Hey folks, first post. Glad to see this project up and running, wish it well, and may go Premium to support it at some point. I would certainly buy it when it's released. I'm another sad CoX nostalgist, even though my heyday with the game was a solid two years' total addiction way back during 2005-2006, with a trailing edge of occasionally logging on and getting into it again for bursts, until I couldn't stand the sight of it any more by about 2008, and only logged in for a nostalgia jag (and to see how the SG I'd started was getting on in the hands of the person I left it with - always brought a tear to my eye to see it was still toddling along :) ). But along with many gamers who had fond memories of CoX, I was very, very sad to see the appalling way the game was treated by NCSoft in 2012. So yeah, I'm glad to see this project (and even the other two which I presume are not be mentioned here :) ) up and running. That two years' addiction to CoX was the peak of my gaming life - I hadn't experienced anything like it before, and I haven't since.
Anyway, to the topic. When I first started getting a bit bored of CoX after that 2 years, I tried [b]Vanguard: Saga of Heroes[/b]. Now that was a fantastic experience, and the MMO was quite busy at the time I first tried it. But it was very far beyond the capabilities of my computer to run it, so sadly I had to let it go, and by the time I had a comp that could run it, the game was nearly dead, and sadly died finally a year or so ago. But it was a true, "classic" MMO, marred by mismanagement in its production leading to too many problems at launch, and a resultant backlash against a much-anticipated game that had some great world building and core gameplay, but failed to live up to its hype and expectations. One thing I noticed, though, even when I had fun with it, was that it was hard to play with other people except for some of the "name" dungeons, or unless you were in a guild of course.
When [b]Champions Online[/b] launched I got into it. This too was missing the team element that CoX had (again, unless you were in a guild), but I did enjoy nearly everything else about the game (apart from the way it had only a few big zones with lots of different stuff crammed into them, as opposed to lots of zones with lots of different things in them). The build system was (and still is) lots of fun to tinker around with, and I enjoyed the semi-action nature of the combat (which was different from the tab targeting combat of CoX of course).
[b]WoW[/b] was a big shock to me - again here, although the game was incredibly well polished and well-made, I hardly ever seemed to do anything other than solo - teams were hard to find (again, except for special dungeon content). Also, while I recognized the high quality of the game, the lore and cartoony art style never really appealed to me much, so I never got into it.
[b]Tabula Rasa[/b] was my next big hope. Now there were lots of things to love about that game - its being s-f, for one thing. And I used to enjoy the city siege events quite a lot. But again - how come I spent most of my time just soloing things?
[b]LOTRO[/b] - now here, I have to admit, I did get quite addicted for a while, a good few months. It was LOTR after all, and it was simply amazing to be wandering around Middle Earth, with all that solid lore and everything. Combat was a bit too fussy for my tastes, and rather inconsequential-feeling, but it did feel like a virtual world, a place I could escape to that I enjoyed being in. I spent most of my time soloing in it - again, except for a few dungeons - but by that time, I'd come to accept that "MMORPG", despite the name, seems to mean to most developers, "Game In Which Unless You Are In A Guild You Spend Most Of Your Time Playing Solo, But There Are Other People Randomly Running Around To Give It A Background Sense Of Aliveness, Who You Might Very Occasionally Team Up With For A Special Dungeon".
Next, I spent a considerable amount of time in [b]EVE Online[/b]. Now that is a great, great game - but it's a very specialized game, it's specialized for people who either enjoy PvP or who enjoy avoiding PvP. At first I was in the latter category - I quite enjoyed the cat and mouse game of taking all precautions to avoid being killed, as a largely PvE player. Then eventually the game got me over my adrenaline jag in PvP (and I've quite enjoyed PvP in games ever since). But the problem is, while EVE is a very social game, it's dependent on the idea that "guild=social gameplay."
[b]TSW[/b] was a bit of a love for a couple of months - actually very intense love. But then the really excellently-well-made solo stories ran out, and all that was left was dungeon grinding - and although dungeons are great fun and challenging in TSW, it wasn't enough to keep me interested in the game. I do still return to it when they add a new bit of story though - although the combat always takes a bit of getting used to again. Still, I'd highly recommend TSW to anyone, it's one of the best solo games around :) (Actually that's not fair, for a brief time after launch, it had that "difficult enough so that it's worth teaming up with people when they're in the same area obviously about to do the same quest". But as soon as the population density declined, the game returned to the apparently default MMO mode - solo play.)
I was beginning to understand that this mentality seems to be prevalent with all MMO developers. Either you solo, or you are in a guild. What? You want to play with other people socially but you don't want to commit to being a guild? What sort of weirdo are you?
To cut a long story short, it's been the same in every MMO. I've tried: [b]Age of Conan, Darkfall, DCUO, TESO, GW2, Neverwinter, STO[/b]. They all have their good points, and usually more good than bad. Honorable mention should go to Warframe, which, while not an MMO strictly-speaking, has a lot going for it in the sense of being very much like CoX radio/newspapers missions were - you can jump into the game and be playing with other people almost instantly. Trouble is, nobody talks to each other these days ... the culture of chatting while fighting, so common in CoX, just seems to have disappeared.
But in relation to CoX, they all fall down re. this one, simple point: unless you're in a guild, they are profoundly un-social games. To me it seems that developers have completely dropped the ball with MMOs. The USP should be that you can play with others in a persistent world (as opposed to just multiplayer) at the drop of a hat - play together, as PUGs, without muss and fuss. CoX fulfilled that amazingly well, and it's never been repeated in any game since, and no developers (sadly not even Cryptic themselves) took that and iterated on it, developed it. Warframe a bit, but as I said - because developers have themselves destroyed the PUG-ing culture that developed with the early MMOs, and reached its peak with CoX, nobody talks to anyone anymore. Everyone is used to getting their heads down and grimly chasing shinies in solo mode.
It would be such a tragedy if CoT didn't take that lesson on board, so I hope it keeps some focus on trying to recapture whatever magic made CoX PUG-ing nirvana.
I'd like to think that a major ingredient that made City of Heroes so group friendly was the fact that unlike almost every other MMORPG it was never predicated upon competing for resources. There was never this sense that if someone else got something they only got it because I didn't. You didn't have that sort of zero-sum mentality going on. There was never a feeling of needing to "beat" someone else to a resource. It wasn't possible to "ninja" steal a rare drop like you can in World of Warcraft and in other games that have a Need or Greed system.
Star Trek Online has a Need or Greed system and I quickly learned that anyone who chooses Greed will never get ANYTHING that drops in a group. Everyone automatically chooses Need, even if the motivation for doing so is to acquire Vendor Bait to sell for Energy Credits. The game might as well not even bother with a Need or Greed looting mechanic at all.
That kind of "don't worry, just have fun" sort of environment where Players weren't "competing" against each other for resources or hunting grounds made it possible for a spirit of altruism and friendliness take root and become the widespread norm. Indeed, if anything, the incentives were weighted in favor of Teaming, since it was easily possible to earn more on a Team than you could Solo. With low barriers to Teaming (that got even lower with Super Sidekicking), pretty much the only reasons to Solo were because a Player was anti-social or because they wanted to do content that mandated a Solo Only engagement. Everything else could be done in a Team, and of course doing a Task Force essentially mandated having a Team for most people, so the stigma AGAINST Teaming was effectively discarded.
Granted, I spent a lot of time soloing myself ... but I hardly ever had any qualms about joining a PuG on Virtue.
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Yes, I agree with this. And I remember it being something people predicted would lead to CoH's swift demise, but it never happened (the other complaint - no endgame - had more justice to it, and I think CoH probably would have done a lot better had it had proper raids from early on, but hey ho).
As with many of us probably, I've thought a lot about the magic of CoX, something about its synergies just hit a sweet spot, and "no loot" was definitely one of them.
While I'm here, might as well catalogue some of my thoughts on the synergy of little things that made CoX special:-
1. No loot.
2. Tab targeting combat allowing chat and rp-lite while fighting (i wrote about this on the combat thread here just recently).
3. Truly spectacular and powerful abilities, which you could fire off while tab targeting and chatting.
4. UI flexibility and tailorability.
5. Simple but effective team finder, making it easy to lead teams.
6. Ability for everyone in team to see what missions people had and [b]discuss what to do next[/b].
7. Travel powers (which had the downside of making zones small, but the upside (at least before all the various forms of fast travel came in) of having a manageable time for team to form at door to mission while others waited. Again, more time for chatting, emoting, etc.
8. Possibility of "afk message" ("typing ...").
9. Two bleep tones for private or team incoming messages in chat (very important for a team leader).
10. Combat tuneable by team leader to team composition and levels.
11. The Freakshow - possibly the most satisfying enemy mobs to kill in any game ever, perfectly realized theme, perfect difficulty.
These, and a few other little things I've thought about but can't remember atm, led to a situation in which it was easy to form PUGs as a team leader, easy to keep them going, easy to join. The tuneability of difficulty, in particular, meant that PUG-ing wasn't as painful as it is in many other MMOs, because it meant that if the leader knew the team had lots of newbies, s/he could set difficulty to a sweet spot where it wasn't too easy but it wasn't too hard to swamp everyone, so it was hard for a newbie to make an error bad enough to force a team wipe. Obviously it still happened, but it just wasn't as common as in many other MMOs, where everyone gets very angry at everyone else. This, combined with the "no loot", meant that there just wasn't so much cause for contention, so everyone could just have fun and concentrate on killing the mobs.
Why, oh why oh why can't other developers get this? CoX was PUG-ing heaven, PUG-ing nirvana. And even though soloing was fun too (and I know lots of people enjoyed soloing the game as well) for 2 years I hardly ever HAD to solo because I couldn't find a team. Every night, after about 5 mins, I'd be playing with other people, and I would be able to play with other people [b]for hours[/b]. PUGs would go on [i]ALL FREAKING NIGHT[/i], dropping and picking up members as they went, and that was a very satisfying experience for a leader, it made you want to lead more.
Leading teams was easy and fun to do, so you did it, you [i]went[/i] through the hassle of whispering people who were available, checking them out, letting them check you out, forming a team that you felt would be capable and friendly together. (This, as opposed to the kinds of crappy UIs in most MMOs that seem to go [i]out of their way[/i] to make forming teams difficult, or automate the process so there's no human contact involved in actually forming a team.)
Will we ever see anything like this in a game again - a game in which it's possible to play [b]casually but socially[/b] with other players night after night in a persistent world, make friends, build reputations, without necessarily committing to a guild?
That's where MMOs have gone very badly wrong: they've gone after the casual market, but equated casual=solo, forgetting the possibility of casual=social. CoX was just about the only MMO that really "got" the possibility that casual can equal social too.
But in chasing down casual=solo, developers have killed the goose.
*le sigh*
I don't know. Maybe there wasn't outright fighting for resources, but I think the game may have seen it's demise faster if not for IOs.
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